Oppose I'm sure I'm missing something here, but according to the Wikipedia article, this is a fairly common fungus, so a resulting image should be extra special. The composition here is not exceptional (though not bad). The angle is too wide, resulting in the typical wide-angle distorted perspective that does not add to the image. The top-left fungus is not in clear focus. It may look unusual to commons reviewers, but I expect more. -- Ram-Man22:37, 25 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Having the secondary subject smaller and slightly out of focus stops it distracting from the main subject - otherwise they compete for attention. While it may be a fairly common fungus, good examples do seem to be rare. The wood chips are not natural but I like the concept of something natural making use of material man uses to try to prevent growth. --WikiWookie00:49, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Good examples are rare for many different subjects, but that is no reason for it to be a featured picture. A large number of my own subjects fall in that category, but they still do not easily become featured pictures. This image has the flaws I've listed, yet it is wildly popular. I think perhaps the subject is just so interesting to people that it overrides any other objections. -- Ram-Man00:54, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not quite sure you understand what "fairly common fungus" means - fungi, even the most common, are only visible above ground for a few weeks out of a year, and are only at the mature stage of development for a week or two - much less in some cases, like inkcaps - before they begin to degrade. Adam Cuerden01:29, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've gone through about most of Category:Fungi and its subcats today. I've found... exactly one other which MIGHT work as FPC, if people are willing to ignore that it's very slightly cropped. So, you know, "extra-special" doesn't seem the right criterion, at least until we get some more photographers willing to go mushrooming. Then we can consider Featured picture removal for any that no longer make the new bar, but, you know, FP serves to appreciate our photographers and gets more of similar categories - look at insects and flowers - so fungi is something we should be actively looking to promote just now. Adam Cuerden03:43, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The guidelines do not list appreciation of photographers as a guideline, but it is a nice side effect. Also, no where in the guidelines does it imply that a lack of a certain subject is reason to treat an image with less technical strictness (although rareness can increase value). There could be no pictures or dozens of fungi and it wouldn't change my vote. It is commonly understood that FPs are intended to be the best-of-the-best. It's also much harder to remove a borderline FP than you imply. -- Ram-Man04:32, 26 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]